Mark Smotroff is a freelance writer and avid music enthusiast who has worked for decades in marketing communications supporting entertainment technology companies. Clients have ranged from DTS, Sega, Acclaim Entertainment, 3DO, Sony, Sharp and AT&T to recent work with the Sacramento Ballet. In addition to AnalogPlanet.com and AudiophileReview.com, Mark has written for Sound+Vision, EQ, Mix, Goldmine/DISCoveries, BigPictureBigSound.com, HomeTheaterReview.com, Cineluxe.com, and many others. A deep music collector and active vinyl "crate digger," Mark owns recordings dating back as far as the dawn of the 20th century. His turntable array includes a hand-cranked, all-acoustic 1921 Victrola (which he restored). Mark considers himself something of an “everyman audiophile” and his nice sounding — apartment-appropriate, intentionally modest — 7.1 surround sound home theater system has recently been upgraded to support Dolby Atmos. Mark is also a musician / composer whose songs have been used in TV shows such as Smallville and Men In Trees as well as films and documentaries. Mark's most recent original music project is a soft-launched concept album / rock opera which he is updating for eventual re-launch dialthemusical.com.
Stan Getz and Luiz Bonfá’s 1963 bossa nova classic gets a lush, dead-quiet Verve Acoustic Sounds 180-gram vinyl reissue that comes remarkably close to...
Frank Zappa’s Freak Out! turns 60 with a massive 5CD/Blu-ray box featuring rare mono and pre-master mixes, Atmos, 5.1 audio and unreleased live recordings.